Serena
Williams bounced back from her embarrassing loss to Simona Halep by
beating Eugenie Bouchard in comprehensive fashion at the WTA Finals.
The world number one suffered her worst defeat for 16 years in Singapore on Wednesday, winning just two games.
It
was the two-time defending champion's first loss in 17 matches at the
end-of-season event and left her relying on other results going her way
to reach the semi-finals.
Serena Williams bounced back from her defeat to Simona Halep by beating Eugenie Bouchard 6-1 6-1
She
did her bit, needing only 57 minutes to see off Bouchard 6-1 6-1, a
result that also ensured Halep became the first woman to qualify for the
last four.
Halep needed Bouchard to win only one game, and the 20-year-old Canadian fought back from 0-40 to hold serve in the opener.
But
from there it was a miserable afternoon for Bouchard, who came into the
tournament under-prepared because of a thigh problem and has lost all
her round-robin matches in straight sets.
But despite the victory, Williams is relying on other results to see her progress to the semi-finals
The
final match in the red group comes on Friday between Halep and Ana
Ivanovic, with a straight-sets win for the Serb enough to put her
through to the semi-finals and eliminate Williams.
In the white group, Caroline Wozniacki made it two wins out of two by defeating Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5 6-3.
It
was a high-quality match but Wozniacki, who had battled for more than
three hours to see off Maria Sharapova in her opening clash, was the
stronger in the end.
In the white group, Caroline Wozniacki won her second straight game, this time beating Agnieszka Radwanska
The
Dane, who is the lowest-ranked player at the event, said on the
tournament website: 'I knew from the start this wasn't going to be an
easy match, it was going to be a match with a lot of long rallies and
some incredible shot-making.
'I came out there and was a little bit nervous and a few times early on I was thinking, "Aga, how did you make that ball?"'
Wozniacki
is still not assured of a spot in the last four because Wimbledon
champion Petra Kvitova defeated Sharapova 6-3 6-2 in the other match,
meaning all four women can still qualify.
It was Kvitova's first victory over Sharapova in six attempts, a run dating back three years.
